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Javid was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, one of five sons of parents of Pakistani descent.[4][5] His father worked as a bus driver.[6] His family moved from Lancashire to Stapleton Road, Bristol, as his parents took over a shop there, and the family lived in a two-bedroom flat above it.[7] His father's business was in a notoriously crime-ridden part of Bristol and Javid has previously joked about seeing a prostitute standing outside the shop as a child. [8]

As a teenager, Javid developed an interest in financial markets, following the Thatcher government's privatisations. At the age of fourteen, he borrowed £500 from a bank to invest in shares and became a regular reader of the Financial Times.[7][a]

In 2007, he relocated to Singapore as head of Deutsche Bank's credit trading, equity convertibles, commodities and private equity businesses in Asia,[20] and was appointed a board member of Deutsche Bank International Limited.

He left Deutsche Bank in 2009 to pursue a career in politics. His earnings at Deutsche Bank would have been roughly £3,000,000 a year at the time he left [21] and the Evening Standard once estimated his career change would have required him to take a 98% pay cut.[22]

On 28 May 2009, the sitting MP for Bromsgrove, Julie Kirkbride, announced that she would be standing down at the next general election in light of the expenses scandal; Kirkbride had represented the constituency since 1997. Her resignation was confirmed in December 2009, after she attempted to withdraw it.[24]

After a selection contest held by the Bromsgrove Conservative Association on 6 February 2010, in which he received over 70% of the votes cast by its members, Javid was announced as the official Conservative & Unionist Party Parliamentary Candidate for the 2010 general election. The other candidates up for selection included Ruth Davidson[25] and Baroness Stowell.[26] On 6 May 2010, Javid received 22,558 votes, winning the seat by a majority of 11,308 votes.[27] In terms of the number of votes cast in the constituency, this was an increase on the majority of 10,080 at the previous general election,[28] though was a reduction when compared both to the actual number of votes his predecessor had received (24,387) and to the Conservatives' percentage share of the vote (43.7% versus 51.0% in 2005).

According to former Foreign SecretaryJack Straw, those MPs first elected in 2010 "are the best new MPs for over thirty years", and he identified Javid as one of six Conservative MPs that he believed had "already made an impact in the first term".[29] Javid was also one of six new MPs profiled by the Financial Times, and was named as the Newcomer of 2010 by the ConservativeHome website.[30][31]

In an analysis of the 2010 intake of MPs by Westminster consultancy firm Guide Public Affairs, Guide to the Next Prime Minister, published in August 2011, Javid ranked third, and was the top-scoring Conservative.[32][33] In October 2012, Iain Dale in The Daily Telegraph included Javid in his list of "Top 100 most influential figures from the Right".[17] Dale wrote: "His fast rise up the greasy pole into George Osborne's inner circle is not only proof of this man's ambition but also his talent." Nicholas Watt in The Guardian has also suggested that Javid could rise to the top.[34]

In The Times' 2014 right-wing power list, Javid moved up 18 places to #8, with the article stating that he had emerged "as the senior member of the 2010 intake" and that if "the Tories want to jump a generation, then a Javid leadership candidacy would provide the opportunity."[35] The 2014 GG2 Power List ranked Javid as the most influential British Asian,[36] and, at the accompanying GG2 Leadership Awards event on 5 November 2014, then-Prime Minister David Cameron described Javid as "the brilliant Asian man who I asked to join the Cabinet" and stated that "I want to hear that title 'Prime Minister' followed by a British Asian name."[37] In July 2014, Forbes magazine compared Javid to Barack Obama and suggested that Javid could become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.[38]

In January 2015, Javid was awarded the Politician of the Year award at the British Muslim Awards.[39] In November 2017, Sajid Javid won Patchwork Foundation's MP of the Year Award. [40]

In June 2018, a polling of Tory activists on ConservativeHome showed Javid was popular as a potential party leader. The poll is seen as a reliable barometer of grassroots opinion, although it can shift quickly.[41] A separate poll of Conservative party members by YouGov in July 2018 also showed he had high levels of support to become party leader.[42] YouGov found Javid toped the charts on two measures: with 64% thinking he is “up to the job” and 69% thinking he is “competent”.

Javid is regarded as one of Israel's staunchest supporters in the Cabinet,[47] and is a long-time supporter of Conservative Friends of Israel.[48] At a 2012 event hosted by them, he said he would, out of all the countries in the Middle East, choose Israel as home:

“

Only there, he said, would his children feel the 'warm embrace of freedom and liberty'.[49]

At a joint meeting between the American Jewish Committee and the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Javid told his audience, "As long as I am in government, as long as I am in politics, I promise you that I will do everything within my power to fight back against those who seek to isolate and undermine Israel".[53]

At the Conservative Friends of Israel Conference in 2018, Javid explained how a school trip to Israel by his brother forty years ago set off his lifelong support for Israel and added, "my dad explained the history, how it came about and why it is such a special place. Since then I always wanted to visit." Javid visited when he and his wife spent their honeymoon there.[54]

Previously, as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Javid wrote to all council leaders to ask them to adopt the IHRA's definition of anti-Semitism.[56] In 2015, addressing the Holocaust Educational Trust’s annual dinner, the then Business Secretary Javid condemned 'dinner party anti-Semites' and said, "I can’t remember the last time I spoke to a Jewish friend or colleague who hasn’t, at some point, found themselves sitting awkwardly at a dinner party while a fellow guest railed against the international ‘kosher conspiracy’".[57]

In July 2018, Javid back-tracked after Jeremy Corbyn had threatened legal action for linking Corbyn with Holocaust denial. Labour MPs accused Javid of 'peddling a lie' and called on Theresa May to intervene.[59][60]

Javid rejected a request by the Muslim Council of Britain for an independent inquiry into allegations of Islamophobia within the Conservative Party.[61] Javid said “The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) does not represent Muslims in this country" and added "we don’t deal with the MCB". Harun Khan, the MCB's secretary-general claimed, "it sadly indicates that the party has no interest in dealing with this matter with the seriousness it deserves".[62]

Javid has been rebuked by MPs and human rights campaigners for tweeting about “Asian paedophiles”, with the director of the Runnymede Trust commenting: "racialising this crime and focusing on the ethnicity of the sexual predators has done little to address why and how these victims were vulnerable to the prey of these sexual predators".[63][64]The Independent suggested Javid had ulterior motives with an impending leadership battle and said, "If Javid imagines his racial and religious origins offer any defence to the charge of incendiary race-baiting, he must be out of his tiny mind."[65]

Javid defended media freedom and the right of the press to investigate wrongdoing by politicians and officials in his first appearance as Culture Secretary on BBC's Question Time programme. "The media are a cornerstone of our democracy, their freedom is very important and if they want to investigate wrongdoing by politicians or any other public official they should do that and nothing should stop them from doing that."[67] It was reported in May 2015 that in March, Javid had opposed plans by then-Home SecretaryTheresa May to give Ofcom "counter-extremism powers" to vet British television programmes before they were broadcast. In a letter to David Cameron, he commented that countries which had similar arrangements "are not known for their compliance with rights related to freedom of expression and the Government may not wish to be associated with such regimes".[68]

His speech as Culture Secretary to the Union of Jewish Students' Annual Conference 2014 about the importance of diversity and free expression in the world of culture[69] has been hailed by Isabel Hardman of The Spectator as "one of the finest speeches from a government minister I have ever read."[70]

In 2015, at a Board of Deputies of British Jews hustings event, Javid stated that publicly-funded cultural institutions that boycott Israel risk having their government grants cut.[71] Citing a boycott of the UK Jewish Film Festival[48] by the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn, Javid said: “I have made it absolutely clear what might happen to their [the theatre’s] funding if they try, or if anyone tries, that kind of thing again.” [71] British playwright Caryl Churchill raised concerns about political interference in the arts and questioned: "All Charlie Hebdo? Except when freedom of expression means freedom to criticise Israel".[72]

After being appointed as Business Secretary, Javid said that there would be "significant changes" to strike laws under the new Conservative government, announcing that strikes affecting essential public services will need the backing of 40% of eligible union members under new government plans.[75]

Javid is a supporter of remaining in the European Union. He described himself as a Eurosceptic with "no time for ever-closer union", but he wrote in The Daily Telegraph, "Just like Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and IMF head Christine Lagarde, I still believe that Britain is better off in. And that’s all because of the Single Market. It’s a great invention, one that even Lady Thatcher campaigned enthusiastically to create."[76]

In February 2017, it was revealed in court that Javid had ignored the advice of a senior civil servant in order to keep granting export licences for weapons to Saudi Arabia, despite allegations of war crimes in the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. A February 2016 email from Edward Bell, head of the Export Control Organisation, was read out as part of a judicial review into British arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The email said: "To be honest, and I was very direct and honest with [Sajid Javid], my gut tells me we should suspend [weapon exports to Saudi Arabia]". In a later email, he said: "[Sajid Javid] decided not to take a decision about this last night and the matter has now been raised with [the prime minister]".[77]

Javid was appointed as the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in July 2016, by new Prime Minister, Theresa May.[85] He has focused in particular on increasing housing supply in the role, including a new generation of affordable and council housing.[86] He had previously described council homes as "poor housing for the poor", but helped secure funds for new local council building in the 2017 budget.[87]

In 2017, Javid threatened to cancel Europe's largest Palestine convention, Palestine Expo.[88] Javid, whose department controlled the QEII Centre, had warned he was "minded" to cancel the event. Javid's intervention came amid claims by various Jewish and pro-Israel groups that the organisers had previously praised Hamas.[89]

In 2017, Judge ruled that Javid acted unlawfully in issuing guidance to restrict local councils from pursuing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel through their pension schemes. The Chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign called it a "victory for Palestine, for local democracy, and for the rule of law".[90]

As Communities Secretary, Javid launched a wide-ranging programme of leasehold and commonhold reform. This began with a forthright speech at the 2017 conference for the main leasehold property managers trade body ARMA (Association of Residential Managing Agents), where Javid targeted rogue managing agents as well as the exorbitant service charges faced by many leaseholders across England and Wales. This was well received by the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership charity.[91] In September 2017, Javid championed innovation collaborative efforts between the UK and Commonwealth Nations by awarding the first Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship in Innovation to Joshua Cheong and Dr Khoo Hsien Hui respectively. [92] In December 2017, after a public consultation which attracted an exceedingly high response rate, it was announced that efforts to end 'feudal' leasehold practices would include a ban on future leasehold houses as well as setting ground rents in new build flats to zero.[93] It was reported that Javid resisted calls not to abolish ground rents, led by former Prime Minister David Cameron's brother-in-law Will Astor, who has accrued his wealth from freehold investment management.[94] By April 2018, a series of policies aimed at regulating both the managing and letting agent sectors was unveiled such as a new system for leaseholders to challenge unfair service charges, empowering leaseholders to switch managing agent and requirements for managing and letting agents to professionalise their operations.[95]

“Sajid Javid is a true champion of our cause. We cannot thank him enough for all he has done to support Holocaust remembrance – including his strong leadership in the development of the National Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre to be built next to Parliament, as well as his recent commitment to fight antisemitism on university campuses. Sajid Javid is held with huge affection by Holocaust survivors and the wider community – we wish him all the best in his new role and thank him for all he has done.” [51]

”

In April 2018, regarding the Windrush scandal, Javid told the Sunday Telegraph that "I was really concerned when I first started hearing and reading about some of the issues. It immediately impacted me. I’m a second-generation migrant. My parents came to this country ... just like the Windrush generation. [...] When I heard about the Windrush issue I thought, ‘That could be my mum…it could be my dad…it could be my uncle…it could be me.'"[96][97]

On 30 April 2018, Javid was appointed as Home Secretary following Amber Rudd's resignation for misleading MPs about "targets for removing illegal immigrants", a consequence of the ongoing Windrush scandal,[98]
Javid started his role saying he's determined to fix the injustices of Windrush scandal and launched a consultation.[99]

In becoming Home Secretary, he became the first person from an Asian background to hold one of the Great Offices of State in the UK.[100] In his first months in charge, he put clear water between his tenure and Theresa May’s lengthy stint at the Home Office. He offered an olive branch to the Police Federation,[101] secured a review on medicinal cannabis oil,[102] and won an increase in tier 2 visas for skilled workers. [103] Javid won plaudits from Lord Tebbit, who suggested "Sajid Javid has seized control of his notoriously bloody minded department".[104]

Javid has argued against EU citizens having preferential rights to live and work in the UK after Brexit, [107] saying “There’s no magical reason it should be only from the EU and I think being a global Britain means that should be from across the world.” This was seen to be at loggerheads with Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond.[108] Javid has said EU citizens who have lived in the UK for at least five years would be eligible for a new “settled status” in the country post-Brexit. However, the rules – which have allowed unlimited EU immigration – would “completely and totally end, full stop”. [109]

Child chess prodigy Shreyas Royal was allowed to stay in the UK after Javid personally intervened in the case under "exceptional talent" rules; however, it is very rare for the talent of a child to be a consideration in an immigration case.[110]

Javid unveiled plans at Cabinet for a crackdown on the number of low-skilled migrants coming to the UK after Britain leaves the EU, despite objections from Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, and Greg Clark, the Business Secretary. It represented a significant victory for Mrs. May and Mr. Javid and comes after months of Cabinet clashes over the issue.[111]

In 2018, his first speech to the Police Federation, Javid insisted "I'm listening and I get it". [101] He then promised a shift in priorities in a bid to better protect police officers in the next Home Office spending review. In his speech, Javid backed calls for spit hoods across all forces in England and Wales and leant his support to stop and search powers.

In July 2018, Javid announced the UK government would not object to the United States seeking the death penalty[104] for two suspected British members of ISIL, waiving its long-standing objection to foreign executions.[112][113]

In response to the child sexual exploitation scandal, Javid ordered research into why men convicted of grooming-gang sex crimes are disproportionately of Pakistani origin. He has argued that “we need an honest, open debate on child sexual exploitation, including racial motivation”.[114] The decision won praise, with Trevor Phillips suggesting "in his assault on liberal guilt over race, Sajid Javid is putting his Labour opponents to shame"[115] and Camilla Cavendish commented that the "home secretary’s heritage gives him a powerful voice against groomers".[116]

Javid has vowed to use counter-terrorism powers to strip dual-citizens involved in child-grooming gangs and other serious crimes of their British citizenship.[117]In December 2018, in what may be the first case of its kind, a man's dual-citizenship was removed on the basis that when he applied to be a UK citizen he lied about the fact he was sexually abusing a child.[118]

Javid launched an investigation into the Home Office's handling of forced marriage cases[119] after The Times revealed that abusers are being handed visas.[120] In a series of tweets, he said: “We will be doing more to combat it and support victims. Those who force British women into marriage, be warned that we are redoubling our efforts to make sure you pay for your crimes.”[121][120]

Javid rejected a cross-party demand to introduce exclusion zones around all abortion centres in England and Wales, saying it would not be a “proportionate response”. More than 150 MPs wrote to Javid, shortly after he took over from Rudd, calling on him to introduce a national ban. [122]

In 2018, Javid showed concern for the growing child abuse online making the use of technology insecure for children. He spoke at the NSPCC headquarters for online child sexual exploitation held on 3 September 2018.[123] During his speech he announced the allocation of £21.5m for the investigation of the online child sex offenders on different technological and social platforms. He also announced the allocation of £26m for prevention activities to be carried out by different bodies.[124]

Javid used an exceptional power as home secretary to issue a licence for a child with acute epilepsy to be treated with medical Cannabis oil as a matter of urgency.[125][126] Javid also launched a new panel to consider applications from patients seeking to use cannabis oil and announced a review of medicinal cannabis.[127]

Following advice from the Chief Medical Officer and the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, Javid announced medicinal cannabis will be available for prescription on the NHS. [128][102] The mother of an epileptic boy who led the campaign to get the law changed commended
Javid and said,"the compassion and speed that the Home Secretary has moved with is just incredible".[129] Javid, writing in The Times, has insisted prescribing medicinal cannabis is not a step towards legalisation for recreational use. [102]

The Jewish Chronicle exclusively revealed Javid was taking steps to ban Hezbollah. The military wing of Hezbollah has been banned in the UK since 2008, but the political wing is not banned.[130] In 2018, Sajid was a keynote speaker at the Conservative Friends of Israel Conference and stated he intends to strengthen the partnership between UK and Israel, "especially in security".[131]

Javid vowed to tackle anti-LGBT hate crime and set up a new LGBT Advisory Panel to deliver the Government's action plan. Javid apologised for historical homophobia within the Home Office: "Undercover police were instructed to loiter in bars, entrap gay men and put them in jail.. Let me tell you, as the current Home Secretary, that was wrong, wrong, wrong, and I’m sorry that it ever happened". [133]

Javid announced a full Law Commission review of hate crime, including the possible addition of new "protected characteristics" such as misogyny and age in the same way as offences motivated by hostility based on race, religion, sexual orientation or disability. Charities estimate around one million older people are victims of physical, financial, psychological and sexual abuse each year. However, criminal convictions are rare and sentences considered lenient.
[134]

Javid was raised in a two-bed flat above a shop in Bristol with four brothers. His brother Chief Superintendent Bas Javid is Commander of Solihull Police division.[138] Bas Javid was previously with the Royal Navy and his military service included the Persian Gulf War - for which he received a commendation for teamwork and bravery.[138]

His eldest brother Tariq, died in July 2018 in "an unnatural death"[139] and a full inquest was held in which the coroner ruled Tariq had intentionally killed himself after drinking alcohol and taking codeine at the luxury South Lodge Hotel, which was near his home in Horsham. In a letter left to Sylvia — his partner of 15 years — Tariq suggested he wouldn’t “last long” due to ill health. Tariq was a successful businessman and managed a supermarket chain.[140]

His other siblings are Khalid, a financial advisor, and Atif, a multi-millionaire property tycoon.[139] Before he became an MP, Sajid was briefly a director of Atif's main investment vehicle, SA Capital.[8]

Javid is said to have received religious hate mail in the form of a "Punish a Muslim day" parcel; as of March 2018, he was the fifth British MP to receive such abuse.[141] However, Javid himself is not religious[142] and drinks alcohol,[25] whereas his wife is a practising Christian.[143] Addressing a church-hosted husting in his inaugural election campaign for Bromsgrove on 22 April 2010, Javid told the audience:[144]

“

My own family's heritage is Muslim. Myself and my four brothers were brought up to believe in God, but I do not practise any religion. My wife is a practising Christian and the only religion practised in my house is Christianity. [145][143]

”

Javid has said that it is "lazy" and "wrong" to suggest terror has nothing to do with Islam. [146] Speaking at a Muslim News Awards ceremony in 2017, Javid said that those who attack and kill in the name of Islam had no right to do so and that "we can’t deny that these people think they are Muslims. They identify as Muslims. They genuinely believe they are acting for the glory of Islam.”[147] Javid wrote in The Times that, “there’s a special, unique burden on the Muslim community” to do something about terrorism.[148]

Javid has criticised those in the Muslim community who question his faith and refer to him as a "Coconut" or an "Uncle Tom".[144][64]

Javid's father had inspired a devotion to Thatcher: “My dad lived through the winter of discontent and used to vote Labour, but switched to Thatcher, saying, ‘look how she’s sorting out the country’. I agreed”.[149]

Javid has spoken of Thatcher's handling of the Falklands Conflict as a defining moment, saying: "That was a big moment for me in understanding war and how it happens, and admiring Margaret Thatcher and her decisiveness. That’s how my political awareness really took off."[15]

Javid met the former prime minister at a Conservative Party fundraiser in his late twenties and at the meeting Thatcher purportedly said, "Sajid, you will protect our great island. You will protect our great island!".[152]

One of Javid's heroes is Ayn Rand,[47] who is the proponent of a philosophical system known as Objectivism; he recounted once that he regularly rereads the courtroom scene from her novel The Fountainhead, telling The Spectator he admired its description of “the power of the individual … sticking up for your beliefs, against popular opinion”. [22] Furthermore, at a Crossbench Film Society event, Javid chose to introduce the film version of The Fountainhead[153] and described the profound effect it had on him after watching it as a 12-year-old.[154]

Philosopher and theologian John Milbank commented, "It is extraordinarily disturbing that any mainstream politician should express any admiration for Ayn Rand. We should be concerned that someone like Sajid Javid can now hold high office within the United Kingdom."[155]